The Switch / Shourtney

Chapter Nineteen: Sleepover

March 11th, 2018

It was 11:57, and I was sitting on my bed, scrolling through twitter when Courtney's name flashed across my phone screen. I hastily picked up and cleared my throat.

"Courtney? What's up?"

"Hey," Courtney's voice sounded slightly muffled through the phone. "Are you home right now?"

"Yeah I am, is everything OK?"

"Yeah. Yes. Sort of. I just wanted to know if I can maybe stay over tonight."

Slightly taken aback I answered "For sure, of course you're welcome."

"OK good," she let out a sort of stifled chuckle, "because I'm right outside your door"

I pulled my phone away from my ear and quickly headed towards my front door. I pulled it open to reveal Courtney in what looked like a sweatshirt and pajama pants holding a sleepy looking Jango and a backpack, her eyes rimmed in red.

"Oh my god. What happened?" I asked as I pulled her through the door and against my chest.
She dropped her bag and wrapped her free arm tightly around me and mumbled something into my shoulder.

"What is it?" I asked her rubbing her back.

"I just can't handle it anymore." She murmured pulling away and wiping her face on the back of her hand. She gently set Jango down on my couch and turned back to face me.

What I noticed the most was how tired she looked. I had started to realize it over the past couple weeks, but it was only there in quick instances, and then she was back to her normal self again. Tonight, however, it was written clearly across her face.

"So can I ask what you're doing here?" I questioned cautiously.

"I was having a bit of a bad day and I- I didn't want to be alone tonight." She wasn't looking at me, but rather at her hands. "I sort of just got into my car and started driving and I ended up here."

I nodded at her, but I was sort of surprised that she drove to my apartment and not Olivia's. Well I guess we did live closest to each other, but I also like the idea that she trusted me to help her out like this.

"Hold on, let me make you a tea or something," I said and hurried towards my kitchen.

She dropped her bag to the floor and went to sit down at my kitchen table to wait for me. I came back with two peppermint teas. Handing one to her, I pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. Courtney smiled in thanks, took a sip, and then spoke.

"Do you ever feel like your life just got so off track? Like something that felt so sure a year ago is just crumbling and you don't know if you can stop it?"

I stayed silent for a moment and then replied.

"Ya, all the time."

She gave me a small watery smile, "I don't know what to do. What should I do?"

It was tough for me to see Courtney like this. Mostly because I knew what a strong person she was. She was such a constant pillar of light that it didn't sit right with me to see her looking so dimmed.

"I don't know how qualified I am to answer that question Court."

"Not true. I trust you, probably more than I should," she said, with a slight smile that just barely reached her eyes.

I took a deep breath, "I know that things can get tough, but I know you Courtney, you can get through it. Whatever it is. And I'm here for you... if you want to tell me what this is about."

"It's a lot of things," She replied, tucking some stray hairs behind her ear. "I haven't been getting much sleep, and I guess I'm stressed out. I just feel like I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "You do know you're incredibly talented, right? You don't need me to fluff your ego."

"No no, not with work, with life. I just feel like things aren't meshing, like dumb family stuff, and Wahlid." She looked down at her feet.

Finally, we had reached the actual root of her problem. I stayed quiet and waited for her to continue.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm putting in too much and not getting enough back. I feel like it's not worth it, and that scares me."

I wanted to tell her to leave him, to get herself out of that situation, that she deserved better, but something inside stopped me. I felt like my saying it had an ulterior motive. So instead I let her vent, I told her she was strong and capable and that she could get through anything. Fix anything. I told her what she needed to hear, not what I wanted to say. I was a good friend because that's what she really needed.

She nodded at my words. "Thanks, you're a good listener. I really needed this."

"No problem, I'm always here for you. You know that, right?"

"I do." She said.

"Good."

She insisted on sleeping on the couch, with a "Don't be stupid frog legs, it's 2018," so I insisted on making it up for her while she got ready for bed. Chivalry wasn't completely dead after all.

When I finished making up the couch, Courtney was still in the washroom brushing her teeth and I went to my bedroom to pull on my pajamas pants. When I was changed, I heard a small tap on my door and turned around to see Courtney leaning against the door post.

"Is it alright if we just hang out for a while longer?" She asked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

I nodded, "Sure."

Smiling, Courtney came to sit on my bed. She rested her back against the pillows and patted the space next to her for me to join her. I tentatively sat back against the pillows as well, having her lying in my bed was a little more than I had been prepared to handle but I also wanted to be there for her.

Something was still nagging at me though, and I turned my body towards her before asking, "So just out of curiosity, not that I mind at all that you came to crash at my place, but I was wondering why you didn't go to..."

"Olivia's?" She asked, finishing my sentence, and I nodded.

"Well, I trust you Shayne. And I know that you're a good friend and that you would be there for me. You're a good advice giver you know?"

Her voice sounded sort of shy, and I felt slightly uncomfortable at the compliment. I felt my face grow a little warm as she continued speaking.

"Besides, Olivia and James are on the rocks now, and I didn't really want to dump any of my relationship stuff on her while she's going through something."

"But it's ok to dump it all on me?" I joked, and she hit my arm.

"You're dumb." She smiled up at my ceiling. It was the first genuine smile I had seen all night.

We ended up staying awake for a while after that and talked about everything, and nothing at all. She made me laugh at crazy stories from her childhood and I returned the favor with my ridiculous anecdotes. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was her face grinning at me across the pillows and I honestly never felt so relaxed.

A/N: So now we're seeing the cracks in Courtney and Wahlid's relationship more clearly. You know what that means... we're almost there guys 😬

Also, you may have noticed that I mentioned Olivia and James are having a rough time which is basically my way of setting up Sam coming into the picture later. I freakin love them together and am psyched to write him into the story soon lol

Thanks again for all your votes and comments, I love hearing from you it makes my day! ❤

Side note: Do ya'll understand how the ranking system works on wattpad? I'm just trying to understand why I suddenly dropped all the way down the list on the Shourtney tag. It's weird because I'm still in the same place on the courtneymiller tag but for some reason my other ranking sunk